Off the wire
• Netanyahu downplays rift with Obama over upcoming speech in congress  • Urgent: Gold down on strong U.S. equities and dollar  • Polish president to visit Ukraine, Germany, Japan in Feb.  • Kenya opposes release of US-wanted suspected drug barons on bail  • News Analysis: Egypt-Russia approach shows rejection of "US hegemony"  • Roundup: British industrial production slips by 0.2 pct in Dec. 2014  • Apple's co-founder calls for regulation of drone usage  • Latvia's insolvent metallurgy flagship Liepajas Metalurgs prepares for re-launch: media  • US drone strike kills five al-Qaida members in Yemen  • Spanish stock market rises 1.30 pct, closes at 10,500 points  
You are here: 　 Home

Portugal to repay 14 billion euros of IMF debt earlier

Xinhua, February 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Portugal is planning to repay its 14 billion euros (about 16 billion U.S. dollars) of debt it owed to the International Monatery Fund (IMF) earlier, Portuguese Lusa News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Portugal plans to pay off the debt in up to two-and-a-half years. The government's proposal will be discussed at a Eurogroup meeting next Monday.

Portuguese finance minister Maria Luis Albuquerque last month announced that Portugal would follow Ireland in making a repayment to the IMF, taking advantage of low borrowing costs for European peripheral governments.

Albuquerque pointed out that Portugal's ability to do this was because it had "accumulated a very significant liquidity buffer," and because the country had managed to sell long-term bonds.

On Jan. 13, the debt-laden country sold 5.5 billion euros in bonds including 2 billion euros of 30-year debt.

In May 2011, Portugal signed a 78-billion-euro bailout program with the troika - European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank - when it was on the verge of bankruptcy, and successfully exited that program in May of last year.

The IMF lent Portugal 26.9 billion euros, which carried a 3.7-percent tax rate and an average loan maturity of seven years. Endit